are not preaching the gospel
so just be be selective but a lot of people do listen to that and
we have that we have that set up now so the other announcement
is that Emily Dunbar has been so gracious to take over the
nursery and to get it all fixed up we have another baby on the
way, hopefully this coming week, Phil and Bree. Excuse me. There are some new
procedures that we're going to try to follow and make things
go a lot better in there. So if you'll observe those, if
everybody will observe them, that'll make it good for everybody. So please take notice of that. All right, let's open our Bibles
to Psalm 28, Psalm 28. And I know I've repeated this many
times, but it's good to be reminded of it in light of what we just
saw in the first hour. But the Psalms particularly can be
understood on three levels. They are understood historically
in light of the men that wrote them. that's just informative. They're understood personally
for the believer's life and that's very encouraging and they're
understood prophetically as they relate to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's not just some messianic
Psalms as some would have you to believe. They're all can be
seen in light of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's where they reach their highest level of understanding. And so we look at Psalm 28 verse
1, unto thee will I cry. What did he cry? We just looked
at it. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? O Lord, my rock, be not silent
to me, lest thou be silent to me. I become like them that go
down into the pit. We'll read some more from that
in a moment. Let's stand together. Tom's going to come and lead
us in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. I'll remind you one more time,
this coming weekend is our special meeting and we're so looking
forward to it and I hope everybody will be able to participate.
We'll meet Friday night at 6 and begin services at 7. And then
Saturday morning at 10 and Sunday morning at 10. So I know Gabe
and Joe are looking forward to being here. been praying about
it, and I have, and I know you have, so we just anticipate the
Lord's blessings this weekend. You still have your Bibles open
to Psalm 28, verse 2. Hear the voice of my supplications
when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Draw me not away, with the wicked
and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbors,
but mischief is in their hearts. Men will say, peace, peace, when
there is no peace. They'll tell you things about
God that aren't true. They'll give you hope in your
good works or in your free will. And all along in their hearts,
there's a hatred for Christ, hatred for Christ. Give them
according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of
their endeavors. Give them after the work of their hands. Render
to them their dessert. If they're not judged for that,
then we have no hope in the gospel. You see, there's two sides to
this coin. You can't have one without the
other. Because they regard not the works
of the Lord. That's the reason. The only hope
of salvation is to give regard to his work, what he's accomplished. Nor the operation of his hands.
No, they trust in their own hands. He shall destroy them and not
build them up. Blessed be the Lord, because
he hath heard the voice of my supplications. The Lord, Christ,
is my strength. He is my shield, my heart trusted
in Him, and I am helped. Therefore, my heart greatly rejoices,
and with my song will I praise Him. The Lord is their strength. He is the saving strength of
His anointed. The Father saved the Lord Jesus
Christ. the cross and in Christ he saves
us all of his anointed save thy people and bless thine inheritance
feed them also and lift them up forever forever forever that's
what we're concerned with forever things are you concerned with
forever things are you Are you so caught up with the little
trivial temporal things of this world that you've lost sight
of forever things? Oh, might God set our hearts
on those things that are forever. It's the only thing that's going
to count. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, that is
our hope. Lord, if you don't touch our
hearts, If you don't speak to us by your word, if you don't
give to us your Holy Spirit, we'll just be men of flesh calculating
and counting everything according to this world. We pray that you
would give us a forever heart. We pray that you would cause
us to set our affections on things above. We pray that you would
enable us now, Lord, to look to Christ and to know that what
he did on Calvary's cross was a forever work of redemption
for all of your elect. We ask, Lord, that you would
enable us to find our hope in him, to rest in him, to look
to him, to rejoice in what He's done, His work accomplished by
His hands. Unto Thee, Lord, unto Thee, be
all praise, all glory, and all honor, for Thou truly hast done
all things well. We ask, Lord, that you would
not only bless this hour, we pray that you would bless those
places all over this world where your gospel's being preached.
That you would encourage your people, that you would call out
of darkness those sheep that are still separated from you. Cause them to see how Christ's
separation satisfied your justice. We pray for our young people,
for our children. We ask, Lord, you be merciful
to them. We pray for our friends and for
our loved ones, for those that will perhaps come this weekend
and be under the sound of the gospel. We ask, Lord, that you
would save them from sure destruction. Set their feet upon the rock
of ages. Pray for Joe and for Gabe, and
ask, Lord, that You would bless their hearts with Your Spirit
and with Your Word, and bless us through them. We pray it all
in Christ's name. Amen. It's amazing to me how the Lord
brings together songs that Tom and I haven't even discussed with the message that I prepared
to bring this morning. But in light of what we just
sang, is that your heart's desire? Do you find yourself prone to
wonder? Do you find yourself far from
his presence often? If you do, and your heart's desire
is to be drawn closer and closer to Him, I believe there's a message
in our text this morning that the Lord will encourage your
heart with. I know He has mine, and I want you to turn with me,
if you will, in your Bibles to Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter
15. The prodigal comes home. Oh, he wandered from the father
into a far country and wasted his substance and righteous living. You ever do that? You ever do
that? I don't know how many minutes,
24 times 60. How many minutes in a day? You know every single minute
that you're not consciously aware of the presence of God is a wasted
minute. A wasted minute. You ever wasted
your substance? Or do you redeem the time all
the time? The Lord said whether you eat
or whether you drink or whatsoever you do, do it all to the glory
of God. Whatever you do, whatever I do
in this life that's not to the glory of God, it's not done consciously
to the glory of God, is wasted. Wasted. Now, am I suggesting that we
need to cloister ourselves into some sort of monastery and spend
all of our waking moments on our knees? No, I'm telling you
that we are wasteful sinners. We waste time, we waste energy,
we waste effort, we waste all the things that God has given
us. We're just like this prodigal. We go into a far country, and
we waste our substance on riotous living. Is that you? It's me. Everything we do in this life
that's not to the glory of God and conscious of the presence
of God is wasted. What does that say about us?
It says that we're all prodigals. It says that we're always in
need of returning to the Lord. It says that this story is not
a story about the salvation of some young man who got caught
up in wild living and then God came back and everything was
fine. It says that this is your life
and this is my life today and tomorrow and the next day. Is it? I stand before you as a prodigal
in need of returning to the Lord. And what I see in this young
man's life is so true of my experience. I hope that it'll be an encouragement
to you. Look with me in verse 1 of Luke
chapter 15. then drew near unto him all the
publicans and sinners for to hear him." Who is it that hears the voice
of God? Who is it that hears? Now hears, I mean really hears.
You know that verse in that passage over there in Isaiah chapter
6, they will have ears but they will not hear, is the most often
quoted passage in the New Testament. There's a lot of folks that hear,
but they don't hear. But who is it that really hears?
They hear not just with this ear, and they're not just processing
something intellectually, but they hear it in their heart. God speaks peace to their hearts. God speaks truth to their hearts. I'll tell you who they are. They're
Republicans and sinners. That's who they are. And they're
the only ones that hear. So if you're not a prodigal,
if you're not a publican, if you're not a sinner, you're not
going to hear God. That's what I'm saying. You're
not going to hear God. They're the only ones that hear
God. He didn't come to save the righteous. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter 9 before we continue in this story. Matthew chapter
9. Look at verse 10. And it came to pass, as Jesus
sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans. Listen, the publicans
were so despised. They were Jewish by birth, but
they had cooperated with the Romans who
were oppressing the Jewish nation, and they were hated by the publicans. that's what well let's finish
reading this verse 11 and when the Pharisees that publicans
and sinners came and sat down with him oh to sit at the feet
of Christ and to hear him's publicans and sinners and when the Pharisees
now here's the opposite of publicans and sinners there's just two
kinds of people in the world they're just the publicans and
sinners others the Pharisees and the self-righteous and the
ones who are relying upon Christ as their only righteousness.
They have nothing of their own selves. They're publicans. They're
sinners. They're devoid of all righteousness in and of themselves.
Everything about them is sinful. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans
and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, they that be whole need not a physician, but
they that are sick. Are you sick? I tell you, you
get sick enough to need a doctor and you know you're sick. You
know you got troubles. You know you can't fix it. I'm so very thankful for good
health. 38 years I haven't been in the
hospital. And I'm thankful for that. Not that I haven't been
sick, but I just kind of self-diagnosed and self-medicate and get through
it, you know? You finally get through it. You
do that. But when you get sick enough and you realize, I can't
fix this, I'm going to die, then you run to the doctor. Four o'clock
in the morning. sitting in the parking lot of
the VA clinic, waiting for them to open the door so I could see
a doctor. I mean, I'm in trouble. That's what I'm talking about.
Not the kind of sickness where you self-diagnose and self-medicate.
I'm talking about sickness where you get up in the middle of the
night and you run to the doctor. You're dying. You've got to have
some relief. You've got to have some help.
That's who he came to save. Is that you? Or are you trying
to fix your problems? Most folks just try to fix, you
know, I've got a little problem here, a little problem there,
but I can fix it. No. God puts your sin on you, you
know you can't fix it. If you've been made to be a publican
or a sinner, you can't fix that. But that's who hears the voice
of God. Look what he said. Matthew chapter 9, okay. Verse
13. Verse 12, and when he heard that,
he said unto them, They that behold need not a physician,
but they that are sick. And verse 13, But go ye and learn what
that meaneth. Go and ask God to teach you what
that means. Lord, am I sick enough to need
a Savior? Am I a sinner? For I will have
mercy If you're going to be saved, it'll be by pure mercy. You won't save yourself. You
won't make a contribution to your salvation. You won't help
God out. You won't make a decision. You
won't exercise your free will. You won't pray a prayer. You
won't perform a work. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not going to save you by
something you offer as a sacrifice. If you're going to be saved,
it'll be by sovereign, free grace in the accomplished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross. That's the only hope.
Mercy. What did that publican... We
have another story in the scriptures, don't we, about a publican and
a Pharisee in the temple praying. And what? The Pharisee prayed
unto himself. Father, I thank Thee that I'm
not as other men, for I tithe and I fast and I do so many wonderful
works. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity, for I never knew you. What did the publican say? He
would not so much as even look up, but smote himself upon his
breast and said, oh God, have mercy upon me, the sinner. That's who. And the Lord asked
the obvious question. that the answer is clear to.
Which one of these two men went down to his house justified?
Who was justified before God? The sinner? Yeah. Yeah. The story of the prodigal is
my story. It's your story if you're a sinner.
It's who the Lord Jesus Christ came to save. It's the only ones
whom he receives. Go back with me to our text in
Luke chapter 15. It's the only ones he receives. He doesn't receive anyone else.
Look at verse 2. And the Pharisees and the scribes
murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. He's sitting down and fellowshipping
with sinners. What is offensive to the self-righteous
is sweet music to the ears of sinners. That the Lord Jesus
Christ would receive a sinner like me. That he would have mercy
upon me. That I would be able to hear
the voice of God. That my sins would be put away.
That I could be saved. Oh, that's my hope. That's my hope. It's what Zacchaeus'
hope was. When our Lord passed through
Jericho and found Zacchaeus up in a tree, what did he say? Zacchaeus, come down. Come down. Today I must abide in thy house. And they that saw it murmured,
And what did they say? He's gone to be guest with a
man that is a sinner? Yep. Yep. In Simon's house, when
that woman who was a notorious sinner, as the scripture describes
her, broke that alabaster box. Who did the Lord commend? Simon,
who had not even so much as offered to wash his feet, or the woman
who poured out that precious perfume on his head and his feet? In Acts chapter 13, when Peter
was preaching in Antioch, the Jews saw the multitudes of people
that followed after Christ and they were filled with envy and
they spake against Paul and Barnabas at which time Paul quotes from
Isaiah chapter 49 and says, I have set thee for a light among the
Gentiles. And when the Gentiles who are
also called sinners in the Bible, when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad. they were glad and they glorified
the word of the Lord. Sinners are glad that the Lord
is pleased to be merciful towards sinners. Now Luke chapter 15 has three
parts of one parable. It's a mistake to see that as
just three separate parables, our Lord is addressing this question
that the Pharisees had as to why this man who claims to be
the Son of God would have anything to do with a sinner. Surely he
would choose us. Surely he would choose the righteous.
Surely he would choose the well. Surely he would choose the high
and mighty. Surely he would gather us around
himself if he really was the Son of God. No, he goes to the
bottom of the barrel. He goes to the dregs of society. That's who he came to save. And so our Lord tells three parts,
three parables, which really are all designed to answer this
question, as to why the Lord would do such a thing. The first
one is that of the lost sheep. He said a man has a hundred sheep
and he loses one. He leaves the ninety-nine and
he goes after the one and he brings him home. And they all
rejoice. He said there's joy at the end
of that part of the parable in in our text in verse 7. Look at verse 7 of Luke chapter
15. I say unto you that likewise
joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. Repentance
is not a one-time event. Repentance is not a one-time
experience. There is coming to Christ for
the first time. You gotta come the first time
before you come the second time. But it doesn't stop the first
time. We just continue to come. As
you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. To whom
coming Peter said, we just keep coming the same way, don't we?
How do we come? As sinners. As sinners. So the same gospel
is relevant to those who are coming for the first time and
those who are coming for the millionth time. Same message.
We don't preach one message to lost people, another message
to save people. No, we don't do that. It's the same message. More than over 99 just persons
which need no repentance. Are you a just person which needs
not to repent? Or are you a sinner in need of
repentance? Now the first part of this parable describes the
Lord Jesus Christ in the work of salvation, who is the good
shepherd, who knows his sheep. He calls them by name and he
goes after every one of them and he's not going to lose one
of his sheep. The second part of this parable
tells of a woman who lost a coin, a very valuable coin, in her
house and she sweeps the house clean. until she gets out the
light, the candles, she looks under every bed, she turns the
mattresses over, she's determined to find this coin and finally
she finds it. And she rejoices and look at
verse 10, likewise I say unto you there is joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner that repented. And here
we see a picture of the Holy Spirit in salvation. You see,
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all
working in concert to save God's people. And as the Lord Jesus
Christ became our propitiation and achieved our redemption through
the shedding of His blood, so the Spirit of God takes the light
of the Gospel and searches out every dark crevice and reveals
that which is valuable. The pearl of great price. And
there's great rejoicing, isn't there? And the third part of
this parable tells us about God the Father. And this is the part
of the message I want you to hear. The love of the Father
towards His Son. He's a lost son. All these are told. The elder
son in the last part of the chapter 15 is who's being spoken against.
He's the Pharisee. He's the one. You remember the
elder son could not rejoice. The father said, you should be
rejoicing with us. This your brother who was lost
is now found. He was dead, but now he's been
made alive. And the elder son was resentful. He said, I've
served you all my life. You've never killed the fatted
calf for me. Verse 11. He said a certain man
had two sons. There's only two. It's either
Jacob or Esau. There's no third category. There's
no purgatory. There's no in-between. Either
Cain or Abel. You're either the thief on the
right side or the thief on the left side. How many times in
the Scriptures the Lord has given us this truth in two representative
people? All other categories of differences
among men, whatever they might be, rich or poor, male or female, Greek or Jew, it doesn't matter. Whatever other categories there
are among men are insignificant. They're irrelevant when it comes
to salvation. They're more than just insignificant,
they are irrelevant. They have no bearing whatsoever. You're either in Christ or you're
not. You're lost or saved. You're either dead or you're
alive. This man had two sons. Which son are you? You see, you're
either going to be the prodigal right now. I'm not talking, well,
I was a prodigal. Boy, there was a time in my life
I was a riotous person. I hope the Lord's delivered you
from that. But I hope He hasn't caused you, I hope He's continued
to keep you to be a prodigal. In other words, you're still
riotous. You're still wasting your substance. You're still wandering off into
a far country. We're always prodigals, aren't
we? We're just continuing to need
to come back home, aren't we? Come home. Come home. Oh, Lord, bring us home right
now. Right now, just bring us into
your presence. Do you need to come home? The younger of them said to his
father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth me. Here's
the attitude of a sinner. Give me. Give me. I deserve this. How many times have you suffered
some unforeseen trouble and the first thought that comes into
your mind is, what did I do to cause this? You know, that's
just the opposite of saying, give me. You see that, don't you? How
many times do we act like Job? Lord, I don't deserve this. We think that somehow what we
do or don't do is affecting how God treats us. Give me, Lord,
the portion of goods that falleth me, and divideth thy..." This
is something I deserve. And not many days after, the
younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far
country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. How many minutes? Do you live
in a day without any conscious awareness of God? That's a wasted minute. How many things do you do and
you're not doing them to the glory of God? You're doing them
for your own, for your own pleasure, for your own promotion, for your
own power. Wasted. Wasted. The only thing
that counts are those things that are done. Life is short
and soon will be past and only what's done in Christ, for Christ,
to Christ will last. Everything else is going to be
wasted. Be wasted. You don't really think you're
here just to accumulate more stuff, do you? It's just wasted. And we wonder, don't we, to a
far country. And when he had spent all, there rose a famine in that land,
and he began to be in want. Is the Lord making you right
now to be in want? In want. Want of forgiveness. Want of fellowship. Want of communion
with Christ. Want for the Father. Want for
the Son. Is there a desire in your heart,
a want for those things of God? Or are you so caught up in just
wanting things that the world has to offer that you have no
interest in the things of God? That's where most folks are. Has the Lord made you to be in
want? It's the only thing that's going
to make a difference. The Lord causes us to be dissatisfied
with everything but Him. Lord, I'm sick and tired of being
sick and tired. My sin doesn't satisfy me. My
family doesn't satisfy me. Nothing. I just can't find satisfaction
and true contentment and true happiness anywhere. I'm in want.
I've wasted my substance. I'm a riotous person. I wander
off into a far country all the time. I need the Lord. Lord, I need you. Well, what do we do? How do we
know that we're sinners? You know how I know. Because
when we get in want, you know what we do? We go to work. We
just go to work. Well, I'll step up my religious
activities. I'll turn over a new leaf. I'll
rededicate myself. I'll just go to work. That's
exactly what he did. He began to be in want. And so
what did he do? He joined himself to a citizen
of that country and sent him into the fields to feed swine. I just joined myself, I'll do
what everybody else does in order to try to make myself happy.
I know I'm in want, I know I'm not content, I know I'm not satisfied,
so I'll just work harder. And I'll get more moral and I'll live straight and narrow and
I'll get under the law and I'll fix this. That's what the swine
do. He's feeding the swine. That's
what he did. He went and fed the swine. That's the non-believer. The
Lord said don't throw your pearls before swine. They just wallow
in their own filth. But that's where he went isn't
it? And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husk that the swine did eat. He tried to
make himself content with that which the rest of the world was
finding contentment in. But it was fain contentment. See the evidence that this man
belonged to his father. is that he wasn't. There's a
whole lot of folks, listen, most folks, when we start talking
like this, are you in want? Are you not content? Are you
not satisfied? Are you not happy with things?
Most people, no, that's not me. I'm content, I'm happy, I'm satisfied.
I'm good right where I'm at. Thank you very much. Just give
me two cents worth of God and I'll be okay. And they won't
play church and get a little bit of religion and you know,
and then they just go on their lives. But God's people are not
satisfied with that. God's people are in want. Oh,
Lord, make Yourself known to me. Lord, these things don't
satisfy me. They don't fill my soul. I've got a hunger in my soul
that You've created, God, and You're the only one that can
fill it. I'm in want. Yeah, my bills are paid, and
my family's fine, and the kids are okay, and everybody's healthy,
but I'm in want. I want more than that. I'm not
satisfied with what this world has to give. Are you in want? Or are you just going to be content
with what everybody else is content with? Prodigals get themselves in want. They find themselves in want
all the time. That's the reason why they keep
coming back. They keep crying. That's why they keep saying,
Lord, save me. Lord, take away my sin. Lord,
speak to me. Lord, reveal yourself to me. Lord, help me. Couldn't fill his belly. You
know what the belly is a picture of in all the scriptures? It's
a picture of our flesh. And most people, well a person
who's of the, that which is of the flesh is flesh. The flesh
profiteth nothing. A person who is born once in
the flesh, that's all they know is that which is of the flesh.
And the flesh satisfies the flesh. But that which is of the spirit,
oh now that's all, that's what we're talking about here. If
all you have is flesh, if you just have one nature, then the
world can satisfy that flesh and you'll be content with everything
the world has to offer. If that's all you've got. But
if God's given you a new nature, if He's given you His Spirit,
you're not going to be satisfied with the fleshly things of this
world. Your belly will be fain filled. In other words, you can't
fill your belly. You can't get enough. It's like eating husk from the
corn stalks. It's just not satisfying. That God would make us discontent
with everything in this world and cause us to seek Him with
all of our hearts. Otherwise, we're born in the
flesh, we're gonna live in the flesh, and we'll die in the flesh.
And that's all we'll ever have. And this world will be the only
thing that we'll have. It'll be the best that's ever
been. God, give us a spirit. Give us
your spirit. Cause us to seek your face. No man gave unto Him. If you
get in want, and the Lord gives you, begins to stir in your heart
and cause you to desire, gives you a desire for Him, then no man's going to be able
to help you. You're not going to be able to
go to another man and get any, you're going to have to go to
God. You're going to have to go to the Father. What does this prodigal
do? He's got nobody to help him.
He turns to the right, he turns to the left, he looks himself,
and he comes to himself. He comes to himself. This is
the beginning of repentance. He realizes for the first time,
this world doesn't have what I need. He came to himself. He said, how many hired servants
of my father's have bread enough and despair, and I perish with
hunger. Now he still has thoughts of becoming a servant. So he's
still thinking, I'm going to work my way out of this. I'll
just go home. I'll be a servant of my father. And I'll have it
better off than I've got it here. And I'm going to, you see, he's
still working. He's still working. I'll serve God, and that'll fix
the problem. No, it won't. No, it won't. will arise go to my father I
will say unto him father I have sinned against heaven and before
they I'm no worthy to be called by sir thy son make me as one
of the hired servants now when he meets the father that last
phrase is not in there See, he's still thinking, OK,
I'm going to go back to my father and I'm going to ask him to make
me one of his servants and I'll make up for this wasting of the
substance that he gave me. See, the truth is every breathing
minute that you and I have is given to us of God. Every material
thing that we own is not owned by us. It's God's. He's just
loaned us. Everything we've got is the Lord's. And how much of it we wasted?
And here he says, I'll go home and I'll pay my father back by
being his servant for the rest of my life. And he arose and
came to his father, but when he was yet a great way off. Oh,
the love of God. Here's what breaks the heart.
Here's what brings repentance. Here's what sinners are looking
for. The love of the Father while He was yet a great way off. The
Father, look what happens. His Father saw Him and had compassion
and ran and fell on His neck and kissed Him with the kisses
of His mouth. Oh, He just kissed Him. He said, Father, I've sinned against thee.
Yeah, go ahead and make that confession, because it's true.
Father, I've sinned against thee, and nor worthy to be called by
son. That's true. And just stop right
there. Just stop right there. Because
the Father's already forgiven you. And you're not going to become
His servant in order to make up for what you've done. He's going to call to his servant
and say, bring the best robe. What is the best robe? It's the
robe of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, can
you imagine how filthy this young man was? Can you imagine? He'd been wallowing with the
pigs in the pig pen, feeding swine. And now he comes home
and the father puts the best robe on him. The righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what makes us acceptable
to the Father. Nothing else. No good intentions. No turning over a new leaf. No
deciding, well I'm going to do better. I'll serve God and that'll
fix it. No. The only thing that's going
to make you acceptable in the presence of God is the righteousness
of Christ. I'm going to put a ring on His
finger. I'm going to give Him authority. That ring was a signet
ring. It was a ring that represented
Him, that made Him to be a child of the King. He's got authority
into the presence of God. Put shoes on His feet. Oh, His
feet will be shod with the preparation of the gospel. He'll be able
to stand and walk. He'll be upright before God. Kill the fatted calf. That was Christ. He's that fatted
calf. He's the calf that was prepared
of God before the foundations of the world. He's the one slain
by God, shedding his blood as a covering for our sins. What is it that keeps us from
coming home? What is it that causes us to
keep trying to fix our own problems and refusing the love of the
Father and the sacrifice of Christ? It's the same thing that causes
a two or three year old child to try to hide what they've done
from their parents. What is it that causes a child
to sacrifice? The warm embrace, the affectionate
look, the sweet approval, the carefree fellowship, the heartfelt
favor of a loving parent? What is it? It is the inward shame and the
guilt of disobedience. Isn't that what it is? You're
seeing a two-year-old, guilty two-year-old, They don't just
come and jump into the lap of mom and dad. No, they walk around
with their head hung low and they sacrifice the sweet fellowship
of loving parents. A child who has violated the
wishes of their parents to gratify their own desires, disobey the
clear teaching of their parents, will avoid the ones that they
have offended out of guilt. The wise and loving parent can
easily discern the guilt of the child. The child cautiously avoids the
parent, diverts their eyes from them, sulks in private shame,
puts on a mask and pretends like they're innocent when they know
they're not. Something's wrong. Something's wrong. Love has been
injured. The affection between that child
and its parent has been cooled. The honesty of that relationship
is lost and broken. Has the parent's love for that
child changed? Maybe a little. But only because
they act the same way in their relationship with God. Truth
is, Your Heavenly Father, my Heavenly Father, knows every
detail of every sin that we've ever committed. He knows what
we did. He knows why we did it. He knew
it before we did it. He knows the motive behind it.
He watched in the broad daylight of His own omniscience everything
we tried to hide. Has His love changed? Not one
bit. It can't. It's His nature. He can't change
His love for His children any more than He can change His holiness
or His righteousness. It is who He is. That's why John
said, God is love. Has he already taken care of
the penalty? Do that sin. Before the foundation
of the world, the lamb was slain. And what the Lord Jesus Christ
did in fulfilling the covenant of grace on Calvary's cross and
shedding his precious blood was to put away once and for all
the sins of his people. You see, shameful child, trying
to hide your sin from your parent. Don't do it. Don't do it. The Father loves you. He loves
you. He's waiting. He comes out to
the end of the driveway. He's out on the street watching. when he sees you, he's going
to lavish you with his love? Affirm his covenant of grace
with you by putting the robe of righteousness on you? Does he use the threat of retribution
to convince us to come home? Does he put us under the law? Does he remind us of what we've
done? No. Just like that guilty child,
the fault is already clear. The problem is not with what
you know you're guilty of. What I know I'm guilty of. The
problem is admission. Admission. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us
of all our unrighteousness. This prodigal is a picture of
you and me. Does he chastise his children?
Yes, but only to the extent that they are brought to admit their
fault. Chastisement is never punishment,
never. Does he pursue them in their
hiding from him? Yes. Yes. What is the first evidence of
sin that we see in creation? Adam was acting like that little
child. Isn't that what we do? We do exactly what Adam did.
We try to hide from God. And then we try to cover our
nakedness with something we've woven together with our own hands. What did the Father say? Where
art thou Adam? Was God ignorant of where Adam was? No. He knew
exactly where he was. But Adam needed to know that
God knew where he was. And you need to know and I need
to know that God knows where you are and He knows where I
am. And He's loved us with an everlasting love. He's called us home. Come home. I'm not here to punish you. We're
here to love you. It's the love of the Father that's
going to bring us back. I'm going to lavish you with
kisses. I'm going to kill the fatted calf. I'm going to put
the robe of righteousness on you. Oh, the elder brother won't
understand it. He'll still think that his works
are somehow earning him favor with the Father. But that's not
going to change. He provides for us a covering
just as he provided for Adam in the garden. He slew that lamb. The lamb has been slain. The
white wool of righteousness is a complete and sufficient covering
for all our guilt. And like the affectionate father
who didn't stop loving his son, so the father loves us. With tears in his eyes, he ran
to meet him. Out on the road, he fell on him.
He lavished him with kisses. He had compassion on him. He provided everything he needed. He restored him. Are you a prodigal? Have you wasted the substance
that God has given you with riotous living? Are you a sinner? Publicans and sinners. Most folks aren't. Most folks
aren't. Most folks listen to what we're
talking about here and it's as foreign to them I'm okay, you're
okay, we're all okay, God's good with us. Here's a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came to save sinners,
of whom I am chief. He only saves sinners. and he
saves every one of them. Let's stand together. Brother
Tom, close us in. 199 from the hardback terminal.
Let's stand together.